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Live Feed Home TV TV News Apu is Back! Veteran Voice Actor Sunil Malhotra Revives ‘The Simpsons’ Character After Nearly 10 Years The 'The Legend of Korra' and 'The Legend of Vox Machina' actor takes over the role from Hank Azaria, who dropped the character following the release of the 2017 documentary 'The Problem With Apu.'

Logo text After almost a decade away, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon has returned to The Simpsons. The beloved bullet-magnet Kwik-E-Mart owner, one of the show’s most iconic characters from the golden age of the long-running Fox animated comedy series, is set to be a Springfield regular again as producers cast veteran voice actor Sunil Malhotra in the role.

Apu made his comeback in the season 38 episode, “Treehouse of Horror Presents: The Revengening” that aired on Sunday.

“We love this character, and wanted to bring him back in a smart, Simpsons-y way that allowed him to evolve,” Simpsons producer Matt Selman told Variety, which was first to report news of Apu’s return. “We’re excited by what Sunil has already brought to the role, and look forward to seeing more of Apu in the future.”

Apu's new voice has been revealed.It is the first time the character has spoke in almost a decade. pic.twitter.com/HjzHVjaM0S

The long-simmering controversy culiminated in Hari Kondabolu’s one-hour documentary The Problem With Apu in 2017. For his doc, Kondabolu, a comedy writer and standup comedian, spoke to a number of prominent South Asian entertainers, including Aziz Ansari, Aasif Mandvi and Hasan Minhaj about their conflicted feelings about Apu. The film covered both the positive and negative impact of Apu and how it fed into the perception of South Asians in the U.S. and became a topic of discussion on social media.

Apu made his last speaking appearance in The Simpsons in the season 29 episode “The Serfsons,” which aired in October 2017. The show tried to address the outcry over the character in the season 29 episode “No Good Read Goes Unpunished,” where Marge Simpson reads a book to her daughter Lisa that has been changed from its original version to something not so controversial. “Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do?,” says Lisa as a picture of Apu appears on screen.

Though he hadn’t voiced Apu since 2017, Azaria officially confirmed he had withdrawn himself from the role in February 2020. “Once I realized that that was the way this character was thought of, I just didn’t want to participate in it anymore,” Azaria told the New York Times in an interview. “It just didn’t feel right.”

Azaria added, “What happened with this character is a window into an important issue. It’s a good way to start the conversation. I can be accountable and try to make up for it as best I can.”